Splendid and surprising prose poems from one of Norway's most imaginative poets

The sixty-one prose poems collected in The Mountains of Kong find magic in the little absurdities of everyday life and are populated by an unpredictable cast that includes kings and codfish and elephants, a couple looking for a surrogate for their tears, and a lemming on the run.

Presented here in both English translations and their original Nynorsk, and with an introduction by acclaimed poet Stuart Ross, Straumsvåg’s poems are a new kind of map that will deliver you to places you’ve never imagined.

Dag T. Straumsvåg's profile page

Robert Hedin's profile page

Stuart Ross published his first literary pamphlet on the photocopier in his dad’s office one night in 1979. Through the 1980s, he stood on Toronto’s Yonge Street wearing signs like “Writer Going To Hell,” selling over 7,000 poetry and fiction chapbooks. A long-time literary press activist, he is a founding member of the Meet the Presses collective, Editor at Mansfield Press, and for eight years was Fiction & Poetry Editor at This Magazine. He is the author of two collaborative novels, two story collections, seven poetry books, and the novel Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew, which co-won the 2012 Mona Elaine Adilman Award for Fiction on a Jewish Theme. He has also published a collection of essays, Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer, and co-edited the anthology Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament. Buying Cigarettes for the Dog won the 2010 ReLit Award for Short Fiction. His most recent poetry book is You Exist. Details Follow. He lives in Cobourg, Ontario.

Stuart Ross' profile page

Praise for The Mountains of Kong

“Dag T. Straumsvåg is one of those rare poets who trusts that everything has its own mystery, and he shares those mysteries with us in a way that is graceful, humble and profound. His work will open your eyes, deepen your thoughts, and expand your spirit. Whether navigating through a landscape of traditional sleepwalkers, or pointing out UFOs in the Norwegian countryside, his prose poems guide the reader ‘down the road between two places that no longer exist,’ and keep us wonderful company every step of the way.”—Jason Heroux, author of Like A Trophy from the Sun

Praise for Dag T. Straumsvåg

“Straumsvåg’s prose poems begin with realistic, even prosaic, characters and settings that suggest the possibility of a logical narrative, then veer into the absurd. The tone ranges from deadpan to menacing, giving the impression of satire, though what precisely is being satirized remains elusive. Alluring, unsettling, and above all entertaining, these brief paragraphs encourage instant re-readings. The preservation of Straumsvåg’s imaginative play is remarkable.”—Jason Tandon, Harvard Review

“A wonderful collection of prose poems suffused with a curiosity and vitality that resonate beyond the page.”—Poetry International

“I can’t think of a better antidote to boredom than reading the prose poems of Dag T. Straumsvåg. If you think you’re in the presence of ordinary language on ordinary subjects, read on. You’ll soon be somewhere you’ve never been before. I love the quirky turns and swerves, the way the ordinary breaks the shackles of mundane assumptions. You’ll never regard elephants the same again. Or sheep. Or codfish. Or...”—Jim Heynen